MIAMI – Hundreds of immigrants gathered this Friday in the capital of Florida, Tallahassee, to express their repudiation of SB 1718 and demand a comprehensive immigration reform that prevents “mediocre politicians” from periodically using Latinos as “piñatas,” according to said one of the speakers.
The concentration on the outskirts of the Capitol, the building that houses the state Congress, was preceded by the parade of a caravan of vehicles through the center of the city.
Some of those cars left San Diego (California) last week with the slogan “We are all Florida” to show solidarity with the undocumented Floridians affected by SB 1718.
The caravan was in 13 cities and was adding participants until its arrival in Florida last night.
In the park in front of the Capitol there had been a large group of people since morning with t-shirts with the words “We are all Florida” and flags of countries such as Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Puerto Rico and Cuba, who are expected to Many more are added throughout the day.
Shouts like “Yes, we can” or “The people will not be defeated” resounded in the park in front of the Capitol on a very hot day in this area of North Florida.
Do not be afraid, we are going to stop it
“Don’t be afraid, don’t leave Florida,” said activist Luis Vega, who in his day fought against Arizona’s anti-immigrant law SB 1070 and asserted that this Florida law, which, he said, “is a copy of that one.” it will not be implemented because it will be fought in court.
Those gathered on the eve of the entry into force of the law promoted by the governor of Florida, the Republican Ron DeSantis, which severely punishes irregular immigration, passed the microphone in front of the television cameras to be able to express what they feel when they “zero hour” is approaching.
A comprehensive immigration reform accompanied by an amnesty for all the undocumented at the federal level was the most heard claim at the rally, along with calls to “stop this law.”
Juan José Gutiérrez, leader of the organization Full Rights for Immigrants and one of the arrivals in the caravan that left California, stressed that it is necessary to avoid at all costs that the example of the SB 1718 law spreads throughout the United States as “a cancer”.
Gutiérrez added that to prevent “mediocre politicians”, an apparent allusion to DeSantis, from continuing to use immigrants as a “piñata” every time they need to please their electoral base, it is necessary for Congress to approve the many times postponed immigration reform.
Other participants in the rally emphasized that the undocumented work and are not a “social burden”, since they pay taxes: $1.6 billion dollars in Florida alone and $47 billion dollars throughout the country, according to one of the activists. who spoke spontaneously.
Media such as Univision, which broadcast live from the rally, highlighted the absence of politicians and state representatives in the protest.
Protests are planned for tomorrow in different Florida cities and, according to what Gutiérrez told EFE, “a boycott” of Florida products, such as fruits and vegetables and orange juice and other citrus fruits, will be announced “in rejection of this law.
The executive director of Full Rights for Immigrants, which is part of “the coalition of coalitions We are all Florida,” said that, in addition to the protests, lawyers from civil rights and pro-immigrant organizations have designed a legal strategy against SB 1718 which will result in several lawsuits.
The new regulation requires companies with more than 25 employees to use a program to verify the immigration status of each one and makes traveling in a car across state lines with an undocumented person a felony punishable by up to 15 years. from prison.
The law makes it difficult for the undocumented to access medical care, by making it mandatory to register the immigration status of all patients in hospitals that receive Medicaid (public health insurance) and by ignoring driver’s licenses issued by other states to people without legal immigration status.
Keep reading:
How SB 1718 will not only affect immigrants, but many more in Florida
Florida Republicans who voted for Ron DeSantis’ SB 1718 now urge immigrants not to flee